Fourteenth Amendment, Fundamental Rights, and Same-Sex Marriage

Grade

9-12

Lesson Duration

by Evan Gerstmann

“While the meaning of the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments has always been reasonably clear, the courts have struggled considerably with the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Phrases such as “liberty” and “equal protection” are far from self-defining…” This reading traces the Supreme Court’s interpretation of “equality” from the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to Obergefell v. Hodges. It also takes a look at the Court’s understanding of “fundamental rights.”

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